


you can always find me here (the coming home remix)

by perfectlyrose



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Love Confessions, M/M, Post-Season/Series 07, Pre-Kerberos Mission, S8? don't know her, Sheith Remix 2019, Shiro's Bad Year, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-04-12 09:29:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19129270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perfectlyrose/pseuds/perfectlyrose
Summary: Keith continues to watch himself fade and flicker. He’s staring straight at Pidge’s terrified face watching her form words that he can’t hear when he blinks out of existence. 
There’s a long moment of darkness, endless and complete, before he fades back into physical existence. He blinks into the dim light and recognizes the dull metal walls and purple glow in an instant, stomach sinking to his feet.
Just his luck that the failed wormhole transported him straight into a cell on a Galra cruiser.A quintessence experiment gone wrong sends Keith skipping backwards through time, back to a Shiro he hasn't seen in years, and one he's never seen. Keith just wants to get back to his Shiro and his time.





	you can always find me here (the coming home remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stardropdream](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardropdream/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Life We Chose](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16899204) by [stardropdream](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardropdream/pseuds/stardropdream). 



> I can't even begin to say how much of an honor it is to be able to remix one of [Robin's](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardropdream) fics! When I got my assignment from [Sheith Remix](https://twitter.com/sheithremix) I immediately freaked out to anyone who would listen to me. It immediately gave me a reason to reread her entire VLD catalogue for like... a third and fourth time. At least. I landed on _[Life We Chose](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16899204)_ because it's such a beautifully executed concept and has so many emotions crammed into this single gorgeous piece and I wanted to play in that world.
> 
> Robin, you are absolutely one of my favorite writers and I hope you enjoy this! Thanks for sharing your talent with this fandom and the world!

Keith rubs his eyes as he tramps down the hallway towards the small vehicle hangar Pidge and Allura commandeered as their lab. He just got out of a meeting that dragged on for an hour longer than scheduled because some Garrison admiral with a stick up his ass refused to listen to Keith’s repeated insistence that Voltron does not answer to the Garrison or Earth, despite that most of the paladins hail from both.

The fact that Keith was expelled as a cadet means that this particular admiral fights him on _everything_. Respect is hard to come by here when half the brass look at him and remember the write-ups in his file instead of seeing who he is now. Apparently being part of the team that saved the world doesn’t erase a few teenage scuffles and a dishonorable discharge.

He sighs. It’s better when Shiro is there to mediate, but he was tied up with playing diplomat for Coalition visitors and taking care of a couple situations on the Atlas today, so Keith had been stuck trying to deal with the worst of the Garrison officials on his own.

He considers it a success that he only yelled at someone once.

Keith checks his comm one more time, hoping that Pidge and Allura sent him an update that he missed so he can just go collapse on his bed for a pre-dinner nap instead of checking in in person, but no such luck.

They’re working on quintessence experiments, trying to find a way for people other than Allura to operate wormhole technology. Keith isn’t sure he really wants the Garrison to have access to teludavs, especially after the meeting he just suffered through, but it’s not up to him.

He stops in front of the hangar doors, eying them as he psychs himself up for the half-science, half-magic ramble he’s about to be subjected to. The lab is keyed to only open to the other paladins and the Holt family, so at least he’s not the only one feeling paranoid.

Keith presses his hand to the lock. The hangar doors slide open with a hydraulic hiss and his eyes are drawn to the flickering light directly opposite that is a blinding purple-white. He doesn’t really completely understand what Pidge and Allura are doing in here, has purposefully not asked to save himself a headache, but this feels wrong on some cellular level.

His eyebrows draw together as he tries to place the feeling. It’s almost like the crackling sensation of a building druid attack, but without the malicious intent.

“Keith!” Pidge sounds alarmed but he can’t look away from the growing disc of quintessence.

“What’s going on?” He manages to ask, stepping inside and letting the doors close and lock behind him.

“Our current experiment is not going as planned,” Allura answers, voice tight.

“Got that feeling,” Keith grits out.

“Is he supposed to be glowing?” Allura asks, presumably thinking that she’s pitched her voice low enough for only Pidge to hear. “I didn’t know humans could do that.”

“They can’t. You said you have some sort of sensitivity to quintessence, right?” Pidge calls out.

“Yeah,” and then, “Glowing?”

He can hear the clicking and whine of some device. The high pitched squeal emanating from whatever it is doesn’t bode well. Anxiety twists sharply in his stomach.

“I think you and our attempted wormhole are reacting to each other,” Pidge hypothesizes. The mechanical squeal stops. “And not in a good way.”

Keith finally rips his eyes away from the apparent wormhole attempt to stare at his friends. “Why are you trying to open a wormhole in the lab?”

“Where else were we supposed to do it?” Pidge snaps. “You’re giving off weird readings, similar to what we were getting off this failed wormhole but _stronger_.”

“Shut it down,” Keith orders. “Before it explodes or I explode or whatever.”

Allura moves to start trying to cut the power but freezes when she takes another look at Keith. “Oh no,” she breathes.

“What?” He looks down at himself and sees his body go translucent for a moment before flickering back to solid. “Turn it off,” he says again, panic threading through his voice now.

Allura scrambles to do just that but Keith continues to watch himself fade and flicker. He’s staring straight at Pidge’s terrified face watching her form words that he can’t hear when he blinks out of existence.

There’s a long moment of darkness, endless and complete, before he fades back into physical existence. He blinks into the dim light and recognizes the dull metal walls and purple glow in an instant, stomach sinking to his feet.

Just his luck that the failed wormhole transported him straight into a cell on a Galra cruiser.

He bites his lip and hopes beyond hope that Pidge and Allura can trace him somehow and launch a rescue before anyone realizes that he’s even here. Personal teleportation like this could be useful if they can do it on purpose, but he isn’t overly pleased to be the unwitting guinea pig.

A loud inhale behind him causes Keith to tense, hand reaching for the weapon he isn’t carrying. Goddamn meeting protocol.

He turns quickly, kicking himself for not immediately assessing his surroundings. Keith freezes as his eyes land on the other occupant of the cell.

“Shiro,” he breathes, the word forced out of his chest even as his lungs freeze.

And it is. Shiro is sitting with his back pressed to the corner of the cell, shock painted over his face. His forelock is only half bleached, black strands still intermingled with the white. The slash across his nose that Keith has only ever seen as a mostly healed scar is a shiny, relatively fresh burn.

Shiro scrambles to his feet, keeping his back to the wall and his eyes on Keith. His right arm hangs heavy at his side, like the metal is still an unfamiliar weight. Keith knows he’s lucky it’s not glowing purple and at his throat. Maybe it’s not even active yet.

He looks young and feral and _scared_.

“Hey,” Keith says softly, holding out his hands so Shiro can see they’re empty, “it’s okay.”

Shiro shakes his head. “It’s not,” he says and his voice is a croak. “Having hallucinations of a dream I had once is not okay.”

Keith’s head is spinning and he presses his lips together in confusion. A dream? Hallucinations? He swallows hard. “I’m not a hallucination, Shiro,” he says, working to keep his voice steady as he tries to come to terms with the fact that the malfunctioning wormhole sent him through _time_.

Maybe he’s the one hallucinating. He almost hopes that’s what’s happening.

“You are,” Shiro rebuts. “You literally appeared out of thin air, Keith. You can’t actually be here.” His voice cracks over the last sentence.

Keith takes a step forward, automatically moving to comfort, but Shiro flinches back. “I’m real,” he says again. “I don’t exactly know how I got here since the science experiments aren’t really in my wheelhouse, but I think I travelled through time.”

He winces as the words come out of his mouth. Even though it’s the truth, it’s less believable than being a hallucination.

Shiro bites his lip and shakes his head again. “That’s what you said last time.”

“Last time?” His eyebrows draw together, completely lost now. His heart feels like it’s about to launch out of his chest it’s beating so fast.

“Yeah. You look exactly the same.” He pauses. “I don’t know why…” the bob of Shiro’s throat is obvious as he swallows. “I don’t know why this is happening now.”

Keith carefully takes another step closer, noting the way Shiro stiffens, eyes wary. Shiro might think Keith is a hallucination, but apparently he’s also categorized him as a threat.

“How are you feeling, Shiro?” He asks. His fingers itch to reach out and search out whatever injuries he has for himself but he pushes the urge down.

His huff of laughter is humorless. “Great,” he deadpans. “Doing absolutely fantastic.”

Keith quirks a half-smile at him, heart breaking. “Considering you’ve told me almost the same thing while hours away from death, I hope you’ll forgive me not believing you.”

Shiro mutters something under his breath and then his eyes swing up to pin Keith in place, familiar, fathomless grey absolutely swimming with pain. “Arm’s gone,” he chokes out, shrugging his right shoulder. “They keep making me…” he swallows and looks away, letting out a long breath. Keith can see the moment his defenses fall, the moment that him being _Keith_ becomes more important than possibly being an illusion.  “I don’t know what they want. I don’t… I don’t know if I can keep doing this, Keith. I can’t…”

“You can,” Keith promises, his own voice rough now. “You can, Shiro. No matter how impossible it seems.” He has to at least _try_ to give Shiro some hope. He can’t be here and do _nothing_.

“You’re fading,” Shiro says after a long moment. “Again.”

Keith looks down at himself and sees that he is indeed starting to go translucent, like he had back in the lab. Maybe it means he’s going back home.

He takes another step towards Shiro. This time he doesn’t flinch so Keith moves closer still, determined to help however he can. He can’t take Shiro away from this place no matter how much he wishes he could, but he can at least try to reassure him somehow.

Keith reaches out and cups Shiro’s cheek with one hand. Shiro’s eyes go wide and his breath hitches. Keith doesn’t want to know how long its been since he’s experienced positive touch.

“You’re going to make it through this, Shiro,” he says, putting as much conviction into his voice as possible. “No matter how hopeless it seems, I promise that you won’t die here. You survive and I will be waiting for you when you get home. Because you _will_ get home. I promise you, Shiro. Okay?”

His hand is almost completely see-through now but he’s more focused on the spark of hope in Shiro’s eyes. He swipes his thumb over his cheek, catching on the slight stubble there. “I promise,” he repeats.

He sees Shiro’s mouth shape his name, desperate realization painted across his face, but sound has disappeared. He can’t feel warm skin under his fingertips anymore either.

 _Fading_ , Shiro had said, and he is.

Shiro reaches out with his left hand to touch, to maybe test if he’s imagining this or not, but reality fades around Keith before he makes contact.

Keith is back in the darkness once more.

It’s a single breath and an eternity before color forms around him again. They appear slow, in bleeding watercolors before solidifying into anything vivid and sharp. Again, he recognizes his surroundings almost immediately. Impossible not to.

He’s back at the Garrison, in an empty residential corridor in the officers quarters. Keith takes a deep breath and lets it out in a shaky exhale, trying to purge the metallic taste from his mouth. He doesn’t know if he’s in the same time he was just in, or if he’s jumped times again as well as locations.

It’s not his current time, he knows that much. These hallways are never deserted anymore, not now that most of the rooms have been assigned to refugees. It’s eerie to walk through without laughter echoing off the industrial walls and a flow of five different languages washing over him.

He worries his bottom lip with his teeth as he starts walking. It’s probably good that the corridor is deserted, he decides as he cautiously turns a corner. Keith’s red and white paladin uniform isn’t something anyone would recognize if he is, in fact, still in the past.

Maybe he’ll get lucky and not run into anyone before he fades back out this time.

One of the fluorescent lights flickers above him as he finds the hallway housing Shiro’s old quarters. Keith shakes his head at himself, not really having meant to come here. He doesn’t exactly need to run into a past Shiro again. It was instinct, maybe. He walked this route plenty of times in his past when he needed a safe haven. Now is no different.

He wonders if perhaps he actually is in the same time as before, if Shiro is out there on a Galra ship staring at the space Keith vacated without ceremony and worrying about hallucinations and survival; if his present-time self is already out in the desert burying himself in grief and conspiracies.

He stops in front of Shiro’s door, staring at it blankly. He closes his eyes for a second and breathes in. His hands are still shaking from seeing Shiro in that Galra cell, seeing him out of hope and terrified.

Keith lets it out and is about to turn to go find a more out-of-the-way place to wait out whatever this time hopping thing is doing, when a familiar voice has him freezing in place.

“Hey, Keith!”

He turns his head, almost hoping again that this is in fact a hallucination. Shiro is at the other end of the hall, smiling bright and dressed in his officer greys with the collar undone. There’s a stack of paperwork tucked under his arm and he can see the circles under his eyes from here.

Shiro’s doubletake is almost comical as he takes in the differences between him and the Keith he currently knows.

Something in Keith releases at the sight of his honest shock, at this version of Shiro that is so familiar and dear to him and yet so foreign at the same time. It’s so good to see him safe and smiling, even with the marks of exhaustion on his face and in his step.

“Shiro,” he says, fighting to keep the relief out of his voice.

God, he looks so _young_. Surprise and uncertainty is plastered all over his face, but he still steps closer to Keith. Keith mirrors the movement. It’s disorienting that Shiro isn’t that much bigger than him. All of his memories of Shiro from this time have him as a towering figure - tall and broad and steady - and he is all of those things, but he has a different view now.

Keith sways further into his space, drawn in like a magnet. Shiro still looks dumbstruck and it’s so different than how Shiro looked at him back in the Galra cell, different than how his current Shiro looks at him.

He pulls in a breath and thinks back to his last stop, back to how Shiro had been almost unfazed by Keith showing up older and out of nowhere. _This_ encounter had already happened for him. This meeting is what he meant when he mentioned a dream he once had.

At least Shiro’s not flinching away this time. Keith reaches up without a second thought, thumb touching at the line of Shiro’s jaw, tracing along it for half a second and reveling in the smoothness he finds there, in the warmth that had already disappeared from his fingertips from his last touch.

A thud alerts him to the fact that Shiro’s dropped his entire stack of paperwork on the floor.

Keith chuckles, helpless not to. He’s not sure he’s ever seen Shiro this off balance, this stunned and flabbergasted. He wonders exactly how different he’s acting from the Keith of this time.

He hesitates for half a second before moving in for a hug, tucking himself into the space beneath Shiro’s chin. Shiro may not be as big as his memories paint him, but he’s still bigger than Keith. Shiro doesn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around Keith, returning the hug immediately and without question. He presses his smile into Shiro’s throat, breathing in the familiar smell. It’s cedar and sweat and Keith’s arms tighten around Shiro’s waist.

This Shiro right now is _safe_ and here and it soothes a few of the wounds seeing him in a Galra cell had ripped open.

“Hey buddy,” Shiro says, breath ruffling Keith’s hair. His voice betrays the fact that he’s still reeling.

Keith huffs out a half-laugh against Shiro’s neck. “Shiro,” he murmurs, squeezing him tighter still. “I forgot how young you looked,” he says, still not over it. “How young you _are_.”

God, he’s _so young_. Free from all the stress and pressure the universe is going to put on him in the coming years, only exhausted from mission prep and wrangling unruly cadets and heartbreak instead of nightmares and war.

He wishes Shiro got the chance to stay this young for longer. That all of them had gotten that chance.

“Hey,” Shiro says again, softer. His hands are cupping Keith’s shoulders, steady pressure that makes Keith want to shake apart. “Thought I was supposed to be an old-timer?”

Keith can’t help but laugh at the old nickname, the one he still teases Shiro with now and again, even with fewer years between them. The white hair makes it too easy. He hopes that he gets to see it again soon.

“You alright?” Shiro asks, probably picking up on the increase of tension in his shoulders.

“Mm,” Keith hedges. He pulls back to look at Shiro again, wanting to make the most of this chance to see him this young. Shiro’s face is flushed bright pink and his expression is something loose and open as they stare at each other.

Shiro’s _flustered_ and it’s adorable. He’s really never quite seen Shiro like this.

He likes it. A lot. He wonders if he can get his Shiro to look like this sometime. He really really hopes he gets to find out, that he’s not going to be stuck hopping through time or in a time not his.

“I’m alright,” Keith says after a moment, mostly meaning it. He offers Shiro another smile and it comes easy, a better reassurance than his words.

He reaches out and takes Shiro’s hand, sliding their palms together with barely a second thought. He doesn’t do this often, even in his own time, but it feels right every time. It feels right now.

Shiro doesn’t try to pull away.

Keith tries the door to Shiro’s room and it opens without a sound. He tugs Shiro in after him as he looks around at the room, brightly lit and half-barren. Shiro’s habit of leaving the lights on even when he’s not in a room makes his lips quirk up in a nostalgic smile.

There’re a couple cardboard boxes against one wall and Keith wonders if he’s yet to unpack them after moving from his shared quarters with Adam, or if he’s already packing things away in preparation for leaving on the Kerberos mission. His eyes catch on the trio of vintage NASA posters on one wall and wonders what ever happened to them. Shiro was always so proud of them.

Shiro’s voice brings his attention back to him. “Keith.” He says his name like it’s a full sentence, like he can shove all of his questions into the single syllable so he doesn’t have to find the right words.

He sweeps his eyes over Shiro from head to toe and back again, still trying to memorize, to reconcile how he looks to him now with all the images in his memory. He bites back a sigh and lets go of Shiro’s hand.

“I could explain how I’ve arrived here,” Keith starts, wanting to address some of the questions Shiro is probably drowning in, “but I don’t fully understand it. I just know that it won’t last long. It’s temporary.” God, he hopes it’s truly temporary. He offers the ghost of a smile and continues. “If I start to fade, don’t freak out. That’s supposed to happen.”

He steps closer to Shiro, watching his expression as he tries to process the warning about Keith fading. He looks vaguely concerned and Keith reaches up to brush back his bangs, fingers tangling in his forelock. It’s so odd to see the stark black resting against his forehead now.

Shiro freezes for a fraction of a second before melting into a lopsided smile. His blush has mostly faded, but there’s still color riding high on his cheekbones. “Am I that interesting to look at?”

Keith chuckles and watches as the tips of Shiro’s ears get in on the blushing. He chases it, brushing his hand back through his hair and scratching lightly at the short hairs of his undercut. Shiro shivers under his touch and Keith drops his hand down to his shoulder, safer ground for both of them.

“I’m from the future, Shiro,” he says in answer to his question, to why he’s staring at Shiro so intently.

(As if he’s not always watching Shiro like he might disappear in a blink.)

(As if current-time Keith doesn’t stare at Shiro just like this too, when he thinks Shiro’s not watching.)

He watches this bombshell rock through Shiro. His mouth drops open slightly and his eyes widen. He swallows hard and then glances down at the red splashed across his shoulders and then back up. “That explains the uniform,” he says, and his voice is surprisingly steady.

Keith quirks a smile. “You have no idea.”

He casts his eyes around the room for a distraction. Time travel is full of headaches he doesn’t want and he’s terrified of maybe saying the wrong thing. He sees the couch and tugs Shiro towards it, encouraging him to sit. As soon as he’s seated on one end, Keith settles right next to him, not leaving much space between them.

He’s hovering, he knows, but he just saw Shiro scared and alone and imprisoned, and he’s a little freaked out about the time travel. Shiro is always a calming presence, even when he’s several years in the past.

“It’s so strange to see you like this,” Shiro says, like his thoughts are following parallel paths to Keith’s.

Keith shifts, barely resists raising an eyebrow at him. “Do I look so different?” he teases. He knows he’s filled out since his cadet days - taller and broader now, with more muscle gained from years of fighting. The scar slashing across his cheek is just starting to fade into something less angry and stark.

He’s surprised Shiro’s eyes haven’t fallen to that more often. Maybe he’s just used to his own Shiro eyeing it frequently, guilt lingering in the lines around his mouth.

“You look…” Shiro trails off with a nervous laugh. He shakes his head, dropping his gaze to his lap. It’s endearing how shy he looks here in this moment. He looks back up with a smile, something teasing and light and Keith’s heart skips a little. “You look really good, Keith.”

Keith smiles and he tries to calm his racing heart. He might be back in this time, but he is _not_ a hormonal teenager with a crush anymore. It’s just a smile and a compliment, he can handle this. “Thanks, Shiro. You look good, too.” He looks away, eyes landing on the cardboard boxes again. “I wasn’t sure if I’d find you here or not. I wasn’t sure what the exact date was.”

Shiro follows his gaze and laughs. “Yeah. Only just moved in. I, uh… well. You know. Adam.”

He shrugs like the breakup and the heartache that dogged Shiro in its aftermath is nothing. Keith knows better and his own heart throbs in sympathy.

“I’m sorry,” Keith says after a moment, letting them both collect themselves. He remembers the burning anger he’d felt towards Adam back then, his indignation at how he’d treated Shiro.

It’s a fresh memory for Shiro. He laughs and says, “You always hated him, anyways.” The way he clenches and unclenches his fists in his lap give away his tension.

“Maybe,” Keith allows, knowing it’ll make Shiro at least smile again. Besides, it is the truth.

The silence pulls for a moment as Shiro looks around the room, avoiding Keith’s eyes. Keith knows it means he’s feeling vulnerable. Once, more than half drunk on alien liquor that hit hard and fast, he’d looked straight into Keith’s eyes and informed him that he was pretty sure that Keith could see into his soul sometimes, that he saw _so much_. He’d all but collapsed against Keith and gone to sleep after that, but it’s stuck with Keith, even if Shiro doesn’t remember saying it.

Perhaps this Shiro is feeling the same kind of way. Keith fixes his eyes on the tile backsplash in the kitchenette across the room.

“So, Kerberos must be soon,” he says, voice quiet. It still shatters the silence like a rock on glass.

Keith breathes through the pain that thoughts of the mission still dredge up. Maybe this wasn’t the best thing to bring up when he knows how the mission goes, when he’s just seen where it lands Shiro. He feels like a misplaced word could destroy him right now, could break him into a million pieces, but Kerberos is Shiro’s entire life right now.

He doesn’t realize his hands are shaking until Shiro touches his arm, fingers wrapping tentatively around his wrist. He looks at the way Shiro’s hand makes the joint look almost delicate before dragging his eyes up to his face. The smile he dredges up is probably a mangled thing, sad and half-formed, but it’s all he can manage with the residual panic still clawing at his throat.

“Yeah,” Shiro confirms once Keith’s managed to meet his gaze for a second. Keith feels like the one being examined now and he tries to push his emotions back behind walls that are usually lowered around Shiro. “It’s soon.”

Keith nods and keeps the smile on his face by force of will alone. The man in front of him is about to launch himself into space not having a clue of the hell that awaits him among the stars, and he can’t do a thing to warn him or help.

Shiro’s lips press together and he swallows hard. It’s an anxiety tell, one he always tries to hide behind other expressions and movement.

“What’s wrong?” Keith asks before he can try to deflect. He tries to keep his voice gentle, hoping that he comes across as offering an outlet to talk instead of demanding answers.

Shiro shakes his head. “Sorry. Just… you know.”

Keith hums. He does know and it’s tearing him apart like it hasn’t in years.

He reaches over and puts his hand on top of where Shiro’s is still on his arm. He threads their fingers together, reveling in the way they fit together so perfectly. It soothes some of the tension bubbling up inside of him.

“So,” Shiro says, making Keith look back up at him. The determination on his face has Keith bracing for a hard question even before the second word comes out of his mouth. “Am I still...around?”

Keith shakes his head immediately, not trusting his voice one bit. He was bracing for a question about Kerberos, not this, never this, but it makes sense. He unthreads their fingers so he can drag fingertips down the lines of Shiro’s tendons, stopping when they reach the edge of Shiro’s electrostimulation bracelet.

“You’re still here, Shiro,” he tells him, catching silver eyes with his own. “You were just recently promoted to admiral.”

“Ah.” Shiro’s lips thin out again and he looks away.

It takes Keith a moment to hit on the line of thought Shiro must be going down. Admirals don’t fly, usually. He must think that his disease has grounded him, even if he’s not dead yet.

Keith squeezes his wrist and waits for Shiro to meet his eyes again. “Everything you’re thinking right now isn’t true.”

He looks away again, back at the floor as he processes, turning the words over and looking for holes in them probably. “Well,” Shiro says, turning to look over at him again, “guess Kerberos goes well.”

The words hit Keith like a full body blow and a punch to the face all at once. He doesn’t know what his face does, but it can’t be good. It’s a win that he locks the pained noise behind his teeth, and a hard-won one at that.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Shiro says quickly. A scan of his face tells Keith that he really doesn’t want to know anyways and he sighs.

“God, Shiro,” he whispers, voice cracking a little. His whole body is trembling at this point and he doesn’t… he doesn’t know what he can even say. His nails dig into the meat of his palm as he tries to collect himself. “There’s so much I want to tell you. I… I really…”

He trails off, all potential words sticking in his throat. He just looks at Shiro, imploring him to understand, to forgive him.

Shiro reaches out and tugs Keith into him, wrapping his arms around him and refusing to let go. Keith breathes out, shaky and long and then slumps into the embrace. He buries his face in Shiro’s shoulder and wraps his arms around Shiro in return.

“It’s okay, Keith,” Shiro says, gentle as he always is when Keith shows his soft spots.

Keith breathes in, lets the cedar of Shiro and the fading scent of starch from his uniform bring him back closer to level. “You’re excited,” he says, because he knows Shiro is.

He feels him nod. “I’m excited,” he confirms. “It’s everything I ever wanted. It’s… everything for me.”

His everpresent love for the stars and space and flying seeps into his voice and Keith smiles against his shoulder. Even everything Shiro goes through between now and Keith’s present time has not managed to dim his enthusiasm one iota. The wonder of the stars always outweighs the horrors for him.

Shiro fidgets, shifting in his seat. His fingers tap a nonsense rhythm on Keith’s back before stilling. “Maybe part of me,” he pauses for a second, swallowing hard. Keith doesn’t move to pull back, sensing that this is something he needs to say without eyes on him. “Maybe part of me is afraid that Adam’s right. I’m a liability.”

Keith jerks away from the hug to look at him now, scowl forming as his instinct to protect Shiro kicks in full force. _This_ is something he can try to fix, unlike the Kerberos mission and its fallout.

He bites the inside of his cheek as he looks for the right words to get through to Shiro.

“Someone once told me,” Keith says, pressing his hand against the center of Shiro’s chest and staring at the way his fingers splay there, right over his heart. “The most important thing is to not give up on yourself.” He looks up at Shiro through his bangs, hesitant smile pulling at his lips. “Right?”

Shiro’s laugh is beautiful. His eyes sparkle as he looks at Keith, overfond and soft. “You still remember that, huh?”

His own smile turns soft now. “You have no idea what’s stuck with me, Shiro,” he says, words ringing with quiet honesty.

Silence stretches between them again. Keith looks at his hand on Shiro’s chest and thinks it’s starting to fade. The edges are less defined than they were a minute ago.

He had longer this time, and he’s glad the extra minutes were given here and not in Shiro’s prison cell. Maybe now he can give Shiro the reassurance he wanted to give there. He needs it now just as much, he thinks.

Maybe he can give Shiro words to cling to, even if he only remembers this as a dream.

“Shiro,” he says, quiet and low. He takes Shiro’s hands and threads their fingers together again, holding tight. “You’re going to do amazing things. I promise. You’re going to be so amazing and change so many lives. You’re going to change the world. The universe.”

He puts all the conviction he can muster into his words, praying that Shiro hears the truth in them as he speaks.

Shiro shivers as the words wash over him. His mouth opens but no words come out. Keith squeezes his hands.

“You’re going to be amazing,” he says again. He is, and Keith can’t wait to get back to his own time so he can make sure his Shiro knows this too. “Maybe that’s why I was brought here. Remember this. You’re going to be _amazing_.”

Maybe others would have better words for this but Keith just hopes these ones are enough, that they will stay in his head and help lend him strength on the bad days that are coming.

“Keith,” Shiro whispers.

“And-” Keith chokes off a little laugh. His vision is a little blurry around the edges and he’s not sure if it’s from the tears or because he’s fading. He swallows hard and Shiro’s hand comes up to cup his cheek, palm pressing against the scar there.

Keith lets his laugh escape this time, a soft thing, full of the love he’s drowning in. He loves Shiro _so much_ . The man in front of him in his officer greys with an unmarked face and smiles that come a little easier is where it all started for him and he’s so glad he gets this chance to see him again. It’s odd, for sure, but good. He still can’t wait to get home and see _his_ Shiro with his starlight hair and fathomless eyes that always seem to hold a promise around Keith these days.

He wants to go home and see what exactly Shiro is planning on promising him.

He has his own promise to give here and now, though. One he knows he’s already kept.

“And I promise you that I’ll be here when you get back,” he says.

Shiro sucks in a deep breath. This is the first time Shiro’s heard him promise that, Keith realizes. He’ll say it again, for the first time, just before the launch, and he’ll promise Shiro again in his prison cell. As many times as it takes, Keith thinks. He’ll always be here for Shiro, always be there to welcome him home.

He leans forward and presses his forehead against Shiro’s. “I promise,” Keith whispers again.

“Yeah.”

“You can trust me,” Keith tells him, words escaping before he thinks to hold them back, before he can wonder if they’re too much and keep them locked away. He pulls back to look at Shiro properly. “With anything.”

The room is going blurry around the edges, a reverse of how it faded in when he appeared in this time. He knows they have a minute left at most.

He keeps his eyes on Shiro, watching to see that his words sink in past all the walls his best friend keeps up.

Keith smiles and it feels a little melancholy, a little bittersweet. Shiro’s right in front of him, but he still misses him. He reaches out and traces a thumb over his cheeks, watching a blush bloom in its wake. “You’re my world, Shiro. Don’t forget that, okay?”

He hears the breath punch out of Shiro and his whole face flushes now. He’s so handsome all wide-eyed and flustered and young. He’s definitely going to try to recreate this look in his time with his Shiro.

“I know you don’t feel that way about me yet,” Keith says. He thinks of the weighty look in his Shiro’s eyes, the flares of heat and the shine of a promise there, and hopes that it means what he thinks it does. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything.”

He just needs Shiro to know. Another thing to carry with him into the future, if he wants. Keith hopes he tucks it next to his heart and keeps the words safe until Keith can say them again, when their timelines match.

His hands are fully translucent now and the hush of the room is loud. He smiles and says three words that he hopes Shiro can read on his lips if sound has already left him. He sees Shiro reach out to him, but again, reality fades before he can feel Shiro’s fingertips graze his cheek.

Keith’s heart aches as the darkness envelops him. He just wants to go home to the Shiro in his time. He wants to be wrapped up in one of his hugs and hear the slight buzz of his new arm port just over the sound of a strong heartbeat.

He doesn’t know how long this time hopping will last, how many more times he’s going to be spit out into an unknown time and location or if he has any control over where he goes.

He closes his eyes against the velvet black of this inbetween place and focuses on everything in his present time, on the warm memory of Shiro and how his smile has been even softer for Keith since he was released from the hospital. Keith just hopes he can get home to find out if it all means what he hopes it does.

The darkness fades slowly. It takes Keith a moment to realize that he’s back, that he’s reappeared back in the lab he vanished from. The room is dark. The lights are out and nothing but the campus emergency lights filter in through the windows set high in the outside wall.

Keith has no idea how long he’s been gone. It was still light when he disappeared.

He stumbles forward, knees unlocking without grace, like he was stuck in one position for too long and is finally able to move. His boots are loud on the concrete and he hears someone suck in a breath behind him as the sound echoes.

Keith turns and Shiro is sitting next to the door, back against the wall. A vague sense of deja vu washes over him as Shiro scrambles to his feet, but his hair is bright in this darkened room, marking him as from Keith’s current time.

The soft glow of his Altean arm casts odd shadows around him and allows Keith to see well enough to read the naked hope and exhaustion painted on his face as he stares at Keith, mouth open but voice not working.

“Am I back?” Keith asks, taking a step forward. “Like present time when I disappeared?” He has a sudden fear that he’s in the future now, that he’s not really home even if Shiro looks like the one he left behind.

Shiro nods and closes the space between them with two long strides. He pulls Keith into a crushing hug. Keith can hear the buzz of his arm and the pounding of his heart. He melts against Shiro and breathes him in. Cedar and starch and _home_. He’s _home_.

Shiro leans down slightly and presses his face into the side of Keith’s head, burying his nose in his hair. He inhales, just like Keith just did against his chest. “You were gone for three days,” he tells him, voice shaky. “They didn’t know when you’d be back, but I told them you would be.”

Keith tightens his grip on Shiro, remembering the shadows under Shiro’s eyes and his wrinkled uniform. He suspects that Shiro hasn’t left the lab much, if at all, while he waited for Keith to reappear, relying on nothing more than faith that Keith would come home since Pidge and Allura apparently couldn’t promise anything.

Three days though. The inbetween space must have warped time because Keith only remembers spending maybe a total of twenty minutes with the past Shiros.

“Of course,” Keith says, lips brushing against Shiro’s neck. “I’ll always come back if I can.”

Shiro’s exhale carries the ghost of a laugh. “My turn to be here when you got back,” Shiro says. “You always are for me.”

Keith swallows. He has to ask. “Do you…”

The words catch in his throat.

“Yeah,” Shiro says, understanding Keith’s silence as he always does. “I remember you showing up at the Garrison and then in my cell. I’d mostly forgotten with everything else that’s happened and how messed up my memory was. Thought you were a dream born of exhaustion and stress and then a hallucination.”

Keith fists his hands in the back of Shiro’s uniform.

“When they figured out you might have been sent somewhere in time, it all clicked into place for me. I knew where you were, at least for a little while."

Keith pulls away just enough to be able to look up at him, eyes tracing over the lines forming at the corners of Shiro’s eyes and the desperation still lingering in silver depths. “I was so scared,” he admits. “I didn’t know what was happening or how I’d get home but I knew I had to somehow.”

“You seemed so calm about everything that was happening back then,” Shiro says. “I think that’s all that kept me from going completely crazy while I waited for you to come home.”

“You had enough going on without me freaking out about time travel at you,” Keith says, quirking a smile at him.

Shiro swallows. Keith can’t place the expression on his face but it’s open and emotive and makes his heart quicken.

“I thought I’d lost you,” Shiro whispers. His hand comes up to cup Keith’s cheek, stroking gently over the scar there. “They called me down here and told me you disappeared and it was like everything just _stopped_. I didn’t know what to do without you here.”

“Shiro…” His name comes out like a prayer, breathless and sincere.

Shiro smiles, a wobbly thing full of hope. The promise in his eyes is heavier than ever. “I thought you were gone and I wouldn’t have the chance to…” he pauses, blinking back the tears in his eyes. “You’ve told me twice now and I need…” he stops again.

“Shiro.” Keith’s voice breaks over the two syllables. “Shiro, you don’t have--”

“I do,” Shiro cuts him off. “I want to. I’ve _wanted_ to, I was just nervous because I’m so bad at this, but I almost lost my chance.” He draws in a deep breath and looks at Keith, eyes shining. “I love you, Keith. I love you, too. So much.”

Keith is smiling as he leans up and kisses the taste of the words right off of Shiro’s lips. He whispers them back when he pulls back for air. Shiro kisses him breathless and makes sure he can’t say anything else for several minutes.

Home, Keith thinks again when they’re not doing anything more than breathing each other’s air. He’s home.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/LionessNapping) and [tumblr](http://perfectlyrose.tumblr.com)!
> 
> and if for some reason you haven't checked out Robin's fics already.... [go do that](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardropdream)!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] you can always find me here (the coming home remix) by perfectlyrose](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22645918) by [taikodragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taikodragon/pseuds/taikodragon)




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